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Inflammatory diseases

Autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases (ACID) usually involve multisystem organ dysfunctions and cause serious complications. Currently, the prevalence of ACID, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), lupus nephritis (LN) and systematic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is estimated to be approximately 3% in adults and constitutes an important medical, social and economic problem. In spite of the scientific and technological advances, diagnosis and prognosis of inflammatory diseases are still limited. High variability of both the disease symptoms and the risk factors remain an obstacle for precise and on-time patient health care.

The course of the inflammatory diseases is complex. It affects various inter-individual molecular pathways and mechanisms of action that hamper early signs of body injury, necessary for accurate clinical diagnosis. The current clinical route for patient management is based on inflammatory biomarkers as a cornerstone for precision medicine. Routine laboratory testing for early diagnosis, however, suffers from insufficient sensitivity and specificity. Importantly, assessment of the standard biomarker procedures and the high variability of the laboratory results are one of the major shortcomings.